Hello all. Thought I'd take a moment to follow-up here.

I ended up arranging a tour of Colca Canyon via Arturo Carlos Muņoa Guillen at Carlitos Tours. Email address is [email protected]

Carlos is a nice guy both via email and in person. English is a second language and that comes through in the emails (though not so much in person). His timeliness of emails is not what we're accustomed to here in North America; he does take people out on tours and I think he only replies when he can. Nonetheless, with a little patience my tour was arranged and a USD deposit was made via PayPal. (I paid 40% but he asked for anywhere from 30% to 50% - whatever I was comfortable with.)

Tour costs vary but here's what I got (3 pax):

Day 0 - pickup & transfer from AQP to hotel downtown
Day 1 - drive to Colca Lodge via Chivay & Yanque
Day 2 - Condor del Cruz then drive to Puno

Price paid was $335 per person + an extra $75 per person for the drive to Puno. While that sounds on the expensive side, it should be noted that a night at Colca Lodge costs about $180 (and I needed 2 rooms). Included in all this was a 17-person (!!) minibus for the 3 of us + the driver + a guide. We also had snacks provided and drinks in the bus and along the way when we made stops.

Carlos picked us up at AQP on time. He had a normal car for the pickup and apologized that the car was "small". (I thought it was just fine for a quick pickup / drop off.) He cheerfully noted though that "we have a small car but big hearts. Don't worry - be happy." As he drove us into town we got a mini-tour and commentary. Carlos took us along a bridge where he stopped so we could take pics. He also pointed out some of the highlights around the main square and a couple of good restaurants before finally dropping us off at our hotel (Teirra Viva AQP). Furthermore, he arranged to meet us again later that night to go over the itinerary for the next couple of days before we actually left the next morning.

(Side note: the Teirra Viva AQP is a nice hotel in a convenient location. I recommend the superior room as it's larger / more comfy vs the regular rooms and by our standards, not that much more for the night. It's a good hotel and I will stay there again if I go to AQP.)

When we met later in the evening, Carlos used a detailed map to outline where exactly we'd be going and detailed the time it would take to get from here to there. The expectations were clearly laid out and there were no surprises. We discussed the merits of various start times and settled on a pickup at 08h00 the next morning. Carlos also asked us what we wanted as snacks on board the minibus. We requested mostly fruit and still water. I asked for a bit of sparking water and Carlos said he'd get us some sweets as well. He noted that it would be either him or an associate acting as guide. Carlos cheerfully said that his associate (Jean - pronounced Jam for some reason) and himself would draw straws to see who would get us. I was rather hoping to get Carlos because he was a nice guy and he had climbed Ampato so I had hoped to drill him on what it was like to climb that rather famous peak.

The next morning, bang on time there was our 17-person VW minibus with Carlos and Jean. turns out Jean had drawn the (short? ) straw and got us. But Carlos was there to see us off and make sure all was OK. With that, we were off.

Jean was also a very nice guy. His English was fine and he knew his stuff. Our driver Paul didn't know English but he was competent at driving. (Though he was little tame for my tastes. He would follow slow, 30 km/h trucks until it was 110% safe to overtake them.)

The initial drive out of AQP featured chaotic traffic followed by the aforementioned slow trucks. Paul made a brief stop for petrol and it was here that I learned, to my surprise, that gas is sold by the gallon even though everything else in Peru is metric. No wonder it seems that petrol cost 3x too much!) Eventually we made it to the road less travelled and the traffic thinned out while the scenery really opened up. What a nice drive it was! The hills, the mountains, the rocks, the occasional stream, herds of alpacas and llamas all was wonderful to take in. Jean made some commentary along the way and pointed out relevant facts.

As we drove, we kept going up. AQP sits at an altitude of 2380m. For a guy who lives more or less at sea level, that's kinda high up. (Air pressure at 0m = 101.3 kPa. At 2300m it's about 76 kPa so you get about 25% less with each breath you take.) We paused at a cafe somewhere around 3800m (63 kPa) to have a cup of coca tea. It's supposed to help with the altitude; I'm not sure if it does but I did like the taste of the tea. It's a pity we can't bring back the coca leaves to make tea at home. And then we kept on going up until we hit Patahuasi at a high of 4910m (54 kPa). At this point, we had a magnificent view of Ampato, Sabancaya and Hualca Hualca all seemingly within reach. We stopped to take pics and I very very very slowly shuffled my way to a vantage to take my pics. I was not in great shape as I did this and vaguely realized that bits of me weren't working the way they should. But I wanted my pics so dammit I was going to get them!

Pics taken, we started our descent to Chivay (3700m) where we had a decent buffet lunch around 13h45. (The fruit etc in the minibus kept us going!) The lunch was included in the tour cost, but it only cost S./30 per pax or about $10 USD. We could drink whatever we wanted (extra cost but included in our package) but I just stuck with sparkling water. Having a beer at altitude didn't seem worth the effort at that point.

I should note that my normal way of travel is to fly somewhere, rent a car, fire up the GPS and go. That would certainly be possible here. When you exit AQP arrivals you see the usual suspects for car rentals so it would be easy to pick the rental agency that gives you the best discount / most bonus points and do this whole program on your own. But you wouldn't know where to stop for the best pics. Also, finding the lunch place in Chivay or anywhere else along the way would be challenging at best. And driving at altitude for someone who lives more or less at sea level is not a great idea. I was rather glad to have someone else do the driving in this case! But if you think you can drive at altitude and not cause an accident, then by all means go for it. You'll likely save some $$$ and have a nice time and you'll get there a bit sooner too. I'd recommend renting a normal car; no need for a 4x4 or anything like that. The roads are paved almost all the way save for a handful of bumpy non-paved sections. But slow down and drive cautiously over the bumpy bits and you'll be fine.

At some point along the way Jean mentioned that they carried a tank of oxygen in the bus and that we could help ourselves if necessary. He recommended 2.5 min on O2, 2.5 min off, then 2 min on and 2 min off, then another 2 min on. They only had one mask but it was cleaned with alcohol before use. Another method of breathing easier was to take some alcohol between your hands, rub them together then sniff the remaining fumes. I didn't try this but I'm told it helped.

Post lunch we went to Colca Lodge via Yanque. Yanque was an interesting little village where we explored the market and the church before heading to the hotel. Getting to Colca Lodge involved turning off the main road onto an otherwise unmarked dusty road that meandered through farmer's fields. (Lots of quinoa being grown there!) Colca Lodge sits deep in a valley with mountains soaring high above. That said, the lodge is still at an altitude of 3250m so the air is correspondingly a bit thin. We were greeted cheerfully in fluent English by the hotel staff. A request for oxygen was made and they immediately produced a tank with a mask. They dialled in a flow of 2 litres / min and told us to take as much as we wanted. They also offered us some cups of coca tea - a drink I found ubiquitous in this region. Like I said, I'm not sure if it did anything but I enjoyed the taste.

The rooms at Colca Lodge are simple but quite nice. My only complaint is that the bed is a bit soft. There was no TV, no radio and no wifi in the room. But the Movistar SIM in my iPhone worked perfectly well and I never watch TV in hotels anyway. Besides, in this place all you have to do is look out your window and you'll have plenty to gaze at. There's a spa at Colca Lodge with the usual array of services. I'm not a spa guy myself so I didn't partake.

Colca Lodge has (free) hot springs. The water comes out of one spring at a strikingly hot 80ēC. Smartly this spring is closed off so no one can do anything stupid to themselves. The water flows into a series of other pools so you basically get to choose what temp you'd like your hot spring to be. I think the temps ranged from 40ēC down to 30ēC. Most people seemed to stick to the 37ē pool. A little further on from the hot springs is an alpaca farm where you can get close (but not too close) to the animals and take your pics. There's also a very informative mini-museum on alpacas, llamas, vicuņas and another on condors. Colca Lodge is a very nice place to relax, enjoy the view and try to catch your breath!

Lacking any other options we had dinner at the hotel. What a nice dinner it was! I had alpaca and it was very tender served up in a flavourful sauce. Oscar, our waiter, was really good. Like everyone else at the hotel, his English was fine and he was attentive without being obsequious.

Night fell rapidly so by 19h00 it would have been quite dark were it not for the brilliant full moon richly bathing the landscape in a silvery shine. Above, the night sky was alight with the brilliance of millions of stars. The stillness of the night was interrupted only by the muted burbling of the river below. I sat quietly on my balcony for countless moments trying to absorb this bucolic scene before ultimately retiring for the night.

[To be continued ...]